Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

Brisk as a body-louse the trips,
Clean as a penny dreft;

Sweet as a rofe her breath and lips,
Round as the globe her breast.

Full as an egg was I with glee;
And happy as a king.

Good Lord! how all men envy'd me!
She lov'd like any thing.

But, falfe as hell! fhe, like the wind,
Chang`d, as her fex must do ;
Though feeming as the turtle kind,
And like the gospel true.

If I and Molly could agree,
Let who would take Peru!
Great as an emperor fhould I be,
And richer than a Jew.

Till you grow tender as a chick,
I'm dull as any post;

Let us, like burs, together stick,
And warm as any toast.

You'll know me truer than a dye,

And with me better fped; Flat as a flounder when I lie,

And as a herring dead.

Sure as a gun, she 'll drop a tear,

And figh perhaps, and wish,

When I am rotten as a pear,
And mute as any fish.

NEW.

NEWGATE'S

GARLAND;

BEING

A NEW BALLA D,

SHEWING

How Mr. JONATHAN WILD'S Throat was cut from Ear to Eat with a Penknife, by Mr. BLAKE, alias BLUE-SKIN, the Bold Highwayman,

As he ftood at his Trial in the OLD-BAILY, 1725.
To the Tune of, "The Cut-purse."

E gallants of Newgate, whofe fingers are nice,
In diving in pockets, or cogging of dice;
Ye fharpers fo rich, who can buy off the noose;
Ye honefter poor rogues, who die in your fhoes ;
Attend and draw near,

Good news you fhall hear,

How Jonathan's throat was cut from ear to ear; How Blue-fkin's fharp penknife hath fet you at eafe, And every man round me may rob, if he pleafe. When to the Old-Baily this Blue-skin was led, He held up his hand, his indictment was read, Loud rattled his chains, near him Jonathan stood, For full forty pounds was the price of his blood. Then, hopeless of life,

He drew his penknife,

And made a fad widow of Jonathan's wife. But forty pounds paid her, her grief fhall appeafe, And every man round me may rob, if he please.

[blocks in formation]

Some fay there are courtiers of highest renown,
Who fteal the King's gold, and leave him but a crown;
Some fay there are peers, and fome parliament-men,
Who meet once a year, to rob courtiers again :
Let them all take their swing,

To pillage the King,

And get a blue-ribbon instead of a string.
Now Blue-fkin's fharp penknife hath set you at ease,
And every man round me may rob, if he please.

Knaves of old, to hide guilt by their cunning inventions,
Call'd briberies grants, and plain robberies penfions;
Phyficians and lawyers (who take their degrees
To be learned rogues) call'd their pilfering, fees:
Since this happy day,

Now every man may

Rob (as fafe as in office) upon the highway.
For Blue-fkin's sharp penknife hath set you at ease,
And every man round me may rob, if he please.

Some cheat in the cuftoms, fome rob the excife,
But he who robs both is esteemed moft wife.
Church-wardens, too prudent to hazard the halter,
As yet only venture to fteal from the altar:
But now to get gold,

They may be more bold,

And rob on the highway, fince Jonathan's cold. For Blue-fkin's fharp penknife hath set you at ease, And every man round me may rob, if he please.

MISCEL

MISCELLANIES.

PROLOGUE,

Defigned for the Paftoral Tragedy of DIONE.

THE

HERE was a time (O were those days renew'd!) Ere tyrant-laws had woman's will fubdued; Then Nature rul'd; and Love, devoid of art, Spoke the confenting language of the heart. Love uncontrol'd! infipid, poor delight! 'Tis the restraint that whets our appetite. the forefts free Behold the beasts who range Behold the birds who fly from tree to tree;

[ocr errors]

In their amours fee Nature's power appear!
And do they love? Yes — one month in the year.
Were thefe the pleafures of the golden reign?
And did free Nature thus inftru&t the fwain ?
I envy not, ye nymphs, your amorous bowers:
Such harmlefs fwains!
But yet there 's fomething in these fylvan fcenes,
That tells our fancy what the lover means.
Name but the moffy bank, and moon-light grove,
Is there a heart that does not beat with love?

I'm e en content with ours.

T 4

To

To-night we treat you with fuch country-fare: Then for your lover's fake our author fpare.

He draws no Hemskirk boors, or home-bred clowns,
But the foft fhepherds of Arcadia's downs.

When Paris on the three his judgement pafs'd;
I hope, you'll own the fhepherd fhew'd his tafte
And Jove, all know, was a good judge of beauty,
Who made the nymph Calisto break her duty;
Then was the country-nymph no aukward thing,
See what strange revolutions time can bring!

Yet ftill methinks our author's fate I dread,
Were it not fafer beaten paths to tread
Of Tragedy; than o'er wide heaths to stray,
And fecking ftrange adventures lofe his way?
No trumpet's clangor makes his heroine ftart,
And tears the foldier from her bleeding heart.
He, foolith bard! nor pomp nor fhow regards.
Without the witness of a hundred guards

His lovers figh their vows. — If fleep fhould take ye,
He has no battle, no loud drum to wake ye.
What, no fuch fhifts? there's danger in 't, 'tis true;
Yet ipare him, as he gives you fomething new,

A CON

« ПредишнаНапред »